Helsinki, Finland — ZenRobotics and Plexus Recycling Technologies will deliver robotic recycling systems to Zanker Recycling in San José, California. ZenRobotics Recycler units will be the first of their kind on the west coast and will be operational by fall 2018.

ZenRobotics Recyclers will operate 20 hours per day with total system production at 150,000 tons per year. The robots will considerably reduce the cost of manual labor and will increase total daily operating hours. The two ZenRobotics Recyclers will do the heavy lifting as they are installed on the bulky material sort line. Each of the four arms will be picking objects weighing up to 30 kg.

Maximizing recovery, capacity and efficiency

In a new twist for recycling systems, material feeding will be highly automated. ”The ZenRobotics Brain will control the plant to allow a very smooth-running operation automatically maximizing recovery, capacity and efficiency. The advantage of deploying AI robotics to recycling differentiates Zanker from our competitors”, explains Michael Gross, Director of Sustainability for Zanker Recycling.

“Robots are now proven technology and the growth potential on the US market is substantial. We expect that virtually all new plants will be based on robotic sorting – and existing plants will be upgraded with robots. Robots are the most dramatic paradigm change in the recycling industry for decades”, Marcel Vallen, the CEO of Plexus Recycling Technologies underlines.

Helsinki-based ZenRobotics Ltd. is the supplier of the world’s first trainable robotic waste sorting system. The company is founded in 2007 and has previously delivered waste sorting robots to sites Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Australia, USA, China, The Netherlands, Singapore, Finland, and France.